[Durham INC] Durham City Council's vote to deny digital billboards (Conservation Insider Bulletin)

[John Schelp]

Heartfelt thanks to our City Council...

Local Government Watch: Durham Denies Digital Billboards
Conservation Insider Bulletin, 06 Aug 2010

Durham City Council members this week unanimously just said “no” to a request by the billboard industry to drop the city's ban on digital billboards.

Whether taken as a public safety problem (distracted driving) or an environmental issue (community aesthetics and rising energy demand), digital billboards are a growing concern. By almost any measure, these high-tech ads in the sky are higher impact than traditional static billboards. And they're proliferating at a growing rate.

That makes the Durham action especially significant. Fairway Outdoor Advertising, a Georgia-based corporation which is one of the regional giants of the industry, pulled out all the lobbying stops to try to wipe Durham off the map of havens from these gigantic flashing energy drains.

Following a typical signage industry script, it recruited local non-profit groups to back its pitch by promising them free advertising time, then argued for the billboards as a public service.

Durham community advocates fought back with their own lobbying effort, which reportedly produced a high volume of opposing comments to Durham elected officials. They responded by voting against the proposal. The issue next goes to the Durham County Commissioners, who will consider an identical request to allow digital billboards in that part of the county which lies outside the city limits.

Interesting details on the Durham fight can be found in this week's Independent Weekly: http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/durham-city-council-votes-unanimously-to-keep-current-ordinance-banning-them/Content?oid=1578308

If you live in a North Carolina community which currently limits such signs, and haven't yet seen a fight on it locally, you can probably expect one soon.

--> The author is Winston-Salem Council member Dan Besse.